Romema is fast shedding the commercial/ light industry attributes that characterized it after the War of Independence.
By JOHN BENZAQUENConstruction in Romema(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Romema, like many other areas of Jerusalem, has an interesting history.Located in the northwest corner of the capital near the entrance to the city and the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, it houses the central bus station.It borders the haredi neighborhoods of Kiryat Mattersdorf and Mekor Baruch to the east and Jaffa Rod to the west, constituting the western edge of that large part of the city that is home to the haredi community.Romema is fast shedding the commercial/ light industry attributes that characterized it after the War of Independence.In that post-war period, it also became a transport hub; the imposing presence of the central bus station and the new high-speed railway terminus being erected opposite the bus station ensure that it remains so.Romema is in a period of transformation, but some consider the period before the establishment of the state its heyday — when it was a small but affluent suburb of Jerusalem boasting palatial mansions and lovely period apartment buildings along Jaffa Road.“Romema,” which can be translated as “uplifted,” was founded just after the British took over Palestine in 1921.It was built on the highest hill in Jerusalem near the village of Lifta.The new neighborhood was the brainchild of Jerusalem lawyer Yom Tov Hamon, an Arabic- and Turkish- speaking Jew from the native Sephardic community. An expert in Ottoman land laws, Hamon was a respected attorney was who arbitrated disputes among local landowners –often Arabs.His excellent relations with the Jerusalem elites and wealthy landowners facilitated the sale of land to Jewish newcomers and helped mold the unique demographic makeup of old Romema.
Romema was initially a high-end neighborhood, but in contrast to other neighborhoods being built outside the city walls in the early years of the 20th century, it was home to all, Muslims Christian and Jews – provided they were wealthy and could afford the cost of building large spacious homes in the area.Some of those mansions have been razed, while others that became government offices after 1948 still exist.These imposing dwellings included the opulent three-story residence of Arab Haj Muhammad, who owned quarries in Lifta and was a judge in the city’s Muslim courts, the elegant home of Jewish hotelier and businessman Yehiel Amdursky, and the well-apportioned home of Rabbi Yehuda Fishman- Maimon.Romema figures prominently in the history of the British conquest of Palestine.Jerusalem was surrendered to the British in this area. According to legend, which I have failed to substantiate from British military sources, the official hand-over was carried out by a delegation headed by the then-mayor Selim Effendi Al-Husseini to two lowly lance corporals from the quartermaster’s staff of the British 60th London Division.The Arab Jerusalem delegation had come from Jerusalem looking for a British officer to whom they could surrender the city and give him the keys of the city gates. The British were encamped near what is now the hightech industrial park of Har Hotzvim in the northwest of the city, and the Arab delegation set out to find them.It happened, so the legend goes, that the army was short of eggs, and they sent a party made up of two lance corporals to try to find some eggs for the commanding general’s breakfast. The Arab delegation, which was not familiar with British military ranks, surrendered the keys of the city to two unnamed British lance corporals, who most probably were mildly confused about what was wanted from them.The official account is different.According to the “orthodox” version, the city was surrendered to Maj.-Gen.John Stuart Mackenzie Shea, the commanding officer of the 60th Division.This happened in December 1917. In 1922, the division raised money to erect a suitable monument. It is the imposing three-meter-high monument that stands at the top of Romema Street commemorating the event. The inscription on the monument reads: “Near this spot, the Holy City was surrendered to the 60th London Division, 9th December 1917.”Etched into the monument are the silhouettes of Crusader knights, drawing a symbolic link between them and the British soldiers who conquered Jerusalem. In that same period, the British also built a water tower in Romema, which was the highest point in Jerusalem at the time. Water from an adjacent pool was piped from it all over the city.Everything changed for Romema in 1948. At the beginning of the war, the city was inhabited by affluent Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews as well as wealthy Christian and Muslim Arabs.As the war progressed, the Muslim and Christian Arabs living in Romema and in the nearby village of Lifta were forced out of their homes by Jewish paramilitary groups, due to the proximity of Romema and Lifta to the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, the lifeline of Jewish Jerusalem in those days.Because of the Absentee Property Law enacted just after the end of the war Arab residents were not able to return to their homes.In addition, the affluent Jewish residents gradually moved out. In contrast to other Arab neighborhoods, vacated structures were not used to house new immigrants, primarily because there were not many homes to inhabit.Instead, the stately structures were expropriated to house government offices, and the neighborhood became an area of light industries: small of industrial enterprises, garages, carpentry and metal workshops, etc.Among other enterprises, Romema housed the offices of The Jerusalem Post, the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the headquarters of Magen David Adom.The shift back to a residential area started in about 2005 as businesses closed and properties were bought up by developers. A master plan initiated by the municipality converted the area to residential use.The area today is undergoing dramatic changes. It is a beehive of building activity, and this is understandable.The local community has a high birthrate; the need for more housing units to meet their needs in areas where they want to reside is acute.Most of the apartment buildings going up are adapted to the needs of – and earmarked for – this community.As the light industrial buildings give way to residential projects, it is fast becoming a residential area like any other in the capital, albeit with a marked haredi flavor.